Higher-order Refinements of Small Bandwidth Asymptotics for Density-Weighted Average Derivative Estimators

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Main Authors: Cattaneo, Matias D., Farrell, Max H., Jansson, Michael, Masini, Ricardo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
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author Cattaneo, Matias D.
Farrell, Max H.
Jansson, Michael
Masini, Ricardo
author_facet Cattaneo, Matias D.
Farrell, Max H.
Jansson, Michael
Masini, Ricardo
contents The density weighted average derivative (DWAD) of a regression function is a canonical parameter of interest in economics. Classical first-order large sample distribution theory for kernel-based DWAD estimators relies on tuning parameter restrictions and model assumptions that imply an asymptotic linear representation of the point estimator. These conditions can be restrictive, and the resulting distributional approximation may not be representative of the actual sampling distribution of the statistic of interest. In particular, the approximation is not robust to bandwidth choice. Small bandwidth asymptotics offers an alternative, more general distributional approximation for kernel-based DWAD estimators that allows for, but does not require, asymptotic linearity. The resulting inference procedures based on small bandwidth asymptotics were found to exhibit superior finite sample performance in simulations, but no formal theory justifying that empirical success is available in the literature. Employing Edgeworth expansions, this paper shows that small bandwidth asymptotic approximations lead to inference procedures with higher-order distributional properties that are demonstrably superior to those of procedures based on asymptotic linear approximations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2301_00277
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Higher-order Refinements of Small Bandwidth Asymptotics for Density-Weighted Average Derivative Estimators
Cattaneo, Matias D.
Farrell, Max H.
Jansson, Michael
Masini, Ricardo
Econometrics
Statistics Theory
Methodology
The density weighted average derivative (DWAD) of a regression function is a canonical parameter of interest in economics. Classical first-order large sample distribution theory for kernel-based DWAD estimators relies on tuning parameter restrictions and model assumptions that imply an asymptotic linear representation of the point estimator. These conditions can be restrictive, and the resulting distributional approximation may not be representative of the actual sampling distribution of the statistic of interest. In particular, the approximation is not robust to bandwidth choice. Small bandwidth asymptotics offers an alternative, more general distributional approximation for kernel-based DWAD estimators that allows for, but does not require, asymptotic linearity. The resulting inference procedures based on small bandwidth asymptotics were found to exhibit superior finite sample performance in simulations, but no formal theory justifying that empirical success is available in the literature. Employing Edgeworth expansions, this paper shows that small bandwidth asymptotic approximations lead to inference procedures with higher-order distributional properties that are demonstrably superior to those of procedures based on asymptotic linear approximations.
title Higher-order Refinements of Small Bandwidth Asymptotics for Density-Weighted Average Derivative Estimators
topic Econometrics
Statistics Theory
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.00277